


but i feel a little safer when i'm with you

by chaoticcobra



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of alcohol, autistic sal fisher, mentions of drug use, sal is autistic, sensory overloads, theres like 0 fics of autistic sal and it makes me sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 18:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticcobra/pseuds/chaoticcobra
Summary: maybe it's better to remind sal that he shouldn't go to parties.or,sal has a sensory overload at a party and larry finds him and comforts him.





	but i feel a little safer when i'm with you

**Author's Note:**

> this is really short n sweet and kinda poorly written so sorry if there's any errors or whatever  
> i'm not autistic myself, so i hope it's ok for me to write in the perspective of a character who (i headcanon) is. i'm p sure i have adhd but it's still way different from autism. pls correct me on anything if i got anything wrong!!!!!!!

he felt sweat drip down his scarred face, hidden by the prosthetic. his breaths came out in shallow huffs and he frantically played with the bottom straps. he didn’t need to hear a click to know they were undone, he just let them fall to the either side of his head and ran out. out the back door, shoving past people, not caring at the curses they threw at him. he couldn’t be bothered to stop for anyone, he couldn’t see anyone, hear anyone; the only things he could hear were muffled bass, unintelligible conversation, and the flashing and bright lights that pierced through his one good eye.

it itched his skin, he felt like a vampire exposed to daylight. it wasn’t like a burn. it was a constant itch that no matter what, it continued and it surged through his veins and through all layers of his flesh and through his bone. racking his entire body, leaving him vulnerable. his lips were dry, his mouth was dry but he could feel the saliva desperately trying to pool its way up into his mouth and on to his tongue. yet he swallowed, and it hurt. it hurt because of the itch, it hurt because of the noise and how it added to all the other noise he was trying to escape, and the dryness it left behind in his mouth. he felt like a zombie-vampire hybrid that was as fast as a cheetah, although despite the fact he was sprinting out of the building, he felt like his steps weren’t fast enough, like his legs were heavy chunks of wood being dragged slower and slower by each passing moment. he heard the clock ticking in his head through all the noise and it felt like a scream that could rip out his veins.

he hissed and groaned as he pressed his back up against the back wall of the building, feeling the hot summer air of the night creep along the outside of his flesh. resting between the hairs on his arms under his sleeves and on the hairs of his legs under his pants. he didn’t care if he was alone or not, he ripped off his prosthetic and shoved it close beside him, desperately catching his breath. unspoken words that were still ringing in his head felt like church bells and he felt the urge to scream, to cry, to just make any noise that could tear his entire body apart to end this living nightmare. but he knew if he made any noise, it would only worsen his current state.

he gripped his fingers to his scalp, still trying to be careful even with himself. he didn’t like touch in these moments unless they were from someone he trusted - obviously, and oddly enough, he wasn’t one of those people. he was the one experiencing it, he found it so hard to relax himself. he didn’t find comfort in his own scent, in his own voice, in his own anything. he peered his eye up at the moon, squinting at its light, hissing again and glancing away. everything was so loud, it felt like bugs were crawling all over his skin and the itching never stopped. the lights never went out.

god, why did he even come to this damn party? everyone knew it wasn’t like him. they pointed it out. they were surprised he said yeah. he didn’t even think of the offer when answering, he didn’t even hear it, he just heard a “wanna come to-” and that was all it took to earn a “yes” out of him. he was a sack of shit that day, depressed out of his mind, not even bothering to second-guess anything he said yes or no to. and now here he was, having a fucking sensory overload at the back of the building, his scarred face now sticky with tear tracks that still produced more tears and snot that somehow still oozed from a nose he didn’t even have.

he didn’t even know who he was now. he just knew he was a dumbass named sal who agreed to going to a stupid party. and sal knew out of all people how sensitive he was to bright lights, to so many people in one room, to all of this. sal knew out of all people how disgusted he was by alcohol and there was alcohol there. the minute he saw it, his body froze but his organs kept working and produced a feeling of panic in the form of… the great nausea, of course.

he wasn’t even thinking about this. the only words that came to mind were stupidstupidstupid, itstooloud, bright, no. this was what his feelings were saying, what they were screaming about, but he couldn’t process it into thoughts, much less actual verbal words. he gasped and moaned out in pain when he accidentally bit his tongue, the brief sting that would normally occur feeling as if it lasted a whole goddamn century. everything in his head was dark, but all he could see was light. and he hated the light. he hated the dark. sal wanted nothing more than to be curled up at home, watching conspiracy documentaries with his cat and his boyfriend.

where even was his boyfriend?

no, noworry, toomuchalready, he thought to himself rapidly. it was like spewing bullets out of a pistol in 0.5 seconds, the thoughts that came into his head. he could barely even understand them or hear them. whatever it is you’re supposed to feel when thoughts come to your head. see? he can’t right now! he was a fucking mess, whimpering as he rocked back and forth with fingernails digging underneath his messy, probably-drenched-in-sweat hair. he wanted to shut himself up because he could still hear all the terrible noise and he wasn’t helping by contributing to it, unintentionally or not.

his boyfriend, larry, could be drinking. that’s what he shut down quickly. he didn’t want to think about his boyfriend doing anything more than smoking weed. alcohol addiction ran in sal’s family, and even the mention of it made him uneasy. god he hoped larry wasn’t inside doing shots or dumb shit like that. yeah, they were of legal drinking age, but that certainly did not suppress the fear rumbling louder and louder in sal’s chest. it felt like a beehive, and he imagined sealing his lips shut as he pursed them, scared that if he opened his mouth the bees would all come out and start stinging him. only adding to the terrible feelings he was still feeling.

sal’s thoughts came to an abrupt, time-freezing halt as a voice rang out despite its softness.

“sal?”

the voice was familiar. it was a raspy voice that sounded coated with natural honey, smelled like pine, felt like a calm fire in mid-september weather. it broke through sal’s glass walls that were so delicate, yet it didn’t break in the form of a shatter. it dissipated, and he could feel its threatening dark aura slowly melt away. he recognized the honey-coated voice.

it was larry.

sal was still trembling, also still a little too shocked to move, even turn his head. but he knew larry was slowly approaching him. the loud noises that rang through his skull and ears were slowly pushed to either side by larry’s familiar footsteps striding towards sal. it was in such a way that sal felt a wave of relief, but not enough to kill the lights that pierced his vision. he felt larry standing to his side, facing him. he felt larry’s worried state of mind but calm expression shoot him right through his fragile heart.

“sally,” larry began slowly. “is talking okay?”

sal nodded.

“okay,” larry said. he then asked, “can i sit next to you?”

sal patted the ground close to him. quite close. larry hummed and nodded as he took a seat, pressing his own back against the wall of the building. he paused lightly when he noticed sal’s breath hitched at the sudden brush of their knees against each other.

“is touching okay?” he asked.

“gentle,” sal replied, finally using words. it was more like he choked it out, after not actually speaking for what felt like way too long. his voice was raspy and his mouth still felt relatively dry.

larry slowly slid an arm over sal’s shoulder, gaining sal’s approval when he returned the contact with his head resting against the brunette’s shoulder.

“we don’t have to talk about what happened.” larry’s voice was soft. it not only felt like a gentle fire but also like a warm fuzzy blanket. “i know what happened. i heard from random people that you just ran out. i… i don’t want to sound bad, but i wish we stayed home. i could tell from the get-go that you were anxious once it clicked that we were going to a party. and yet…” he paused for a second, sighing. “...i still didn’t bother telling you we should’ve not gone.”

sal slid a hand up and placed it on larry’s other shoulder, caressing the soft fabric with his thumb. it was a simple way of letting larry know it wasn’t his fault, and that something like this would happen eventually. all the rest of the dark scribbles and bugs and itches went away once larry’s much bigger and still gentle hand went over sal’s. a little smile danced its way onto the bluette’s face.

“and the fact that there was alcohol.” larry swallowed thickly. “god… sally, i know you say it isn’t my fault, but i should have said no for the both of us.”

“didn’t register it,” sal squeaked out, “when t’ was ment’ned to us. jus’ said yeah.”

“yeah, i figured,” larry said as he traced circles with his thumb over sal’s hand. “everyone thought it was so weird of you to say yeah. they all think you’re just antisocial, but me… well, i know you. you’re my boyfriend.”

sal smiled a little wider, letting out a short huff of amusement. “‘m y’r boyfrien’...” he purred.

larry blinked, turning his head towards sal. this time, sal looked back, his one good eye filled with blue hues of warmth and affection. larry caught the amusement and snickered. “yeah, you’re my bluebell,” he purred back.

sal didn’t really know what to do. he was better now - much better, but his thinking was always a little off-centered. he snaked his hand out of larry’s soft grasp and raised it up to cup his jaw, larry’s long dark locks brushing against his knuckles. both boys’ lips were parted slightly as they watched each other with both fascination and love, and then… their lips were pressed against each others. sal worked his scarred and torn pair of lips with larry’s soft yet chapped pair, pushing against him and carefully tightening the grip he had on him. sal felt like the honey, the fire, the pine, the warm blankets - they were all being fully shared with him now, he felt like their souls intertwined, he felt little sparks of joy and excitement and thrill all within him with such graceful gentleness. nothing in this world could compare to larry, not in sal’s eye. never in sal’s eye. never ever.

he gasped softly when he finally pulled away, watching larry’s eyes flutter open to reveal his slightly dilated pupils overtaking the warm brown that was usually so visible. larry’s face was dusted with a light pink all over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, coating his ears as well.

“sally face,” he whispered.

“larry face,” sal whispered back, giggling. “i love you.”

larry broke into a toothy grin, pulling sal in for another peck on the lips. “i love you too, my angel.” he blinked again, pausing for a moment. “do you wanna go home?”

“i have you already, but okay,” sal nodded.

he broke into a breathy laugh when larry’s blush darkened. larry swatted him playfully, muttering a joking “shut up!” at him.

larry stood up and dusted off his pants, helping sal up. sal didn’t care to dust himself off if he had gotten any dust on him. he didn’t really care. once sal got his prosthetic strapped back on, he leaned into larry after the brunette swung a careful arm around and over his waist.

“can we watch conspiracy documentaries when we get home?” sal asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

“of course we can, baby blue,” larry promised. “the rest of tonight is just gonna be chill, okay? you need it.”

sal blushed under his prosthetic. he tried to search for something to say, then thought about it when he grasped onto something.

“lar?” he spoke, once they got into the car.

“yeah?”

“thank you for… um… c-caring about me. the way you do. and loving me. ‘m not implying i don’t deserve it, so you don’t need to say that i do. i just… appreciate it. and i hope you know that. and that you are enough for me.”

he found larry staring at him, an unidentifiable expression on his face. for a second sal panicked, wondering if his stupid brain had said the wrong shit again - but it hadn’t, he found out when larry finally responded.

“sal,” he exhaled. “you’re one of the best people i know. you’re so fascinating, so talented. you’re so fun to be around and i don’t get how anyone can just diss you because of your prosthetic or how you present yourself, or even your autism.” he took sal’s hand, thumbing it gently as he continued. “i love you and i always want to make that known. to you, to anyone, to everyone. you being happy is a priority i’ll never skip over. and if i miss it, ever, at all, feel free to punch me in the face.”

this time, sal smiled under his prosthetic. but larry could tell from the way his eyes crinkled at the corners and how they glittered delicately. “i love you too,” he said. “but i could never punch you in the face, dude. you know that. not only am i too kind, but i’m not even tall enough.”

larry broke into a loud laugh, snorting. “you know what i mean, though!” he cackled.

“no, i don’t!” sal cried through small giggles.

“what i mean is you’re allowed to be mad at me,” larry said after they calmed down. “tell me when you think i need to know something. you know? like if there’s something i do or say that bothered you, or does bother you, let me know.”

sal sighed, nodding. “alright,” he said.

larry turned back as the car started up.

“then don’t tell me i’m allowed to punch you in the face,” sal spoke a couple moments after.

larry snorted. “yeah, i won’t,” he promised. “now let’s get home and learn everything we already know about mothman, yeah?”

“fuck yeah!” sal cheered, laughing proudly.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on my tumblr: https://cherryblittz.tumblr.com/


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